This Day in History – July 19, 2011

2781 -BC- Presumed start of Egyptian calendar 0064 Great Fire of Rome: a fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control. According to a popular, but untrue legend, Nero fiddled as the city burned. 1510 38 Jews are burned at the stake in Berlin Prussia 1553 15-year-old Lady Jane Grey deposed as England’s Queen after 9 days 1816 Survivors of French frigate Medusa rescued off Senegal after 17 days 1848 1st women’s rights convention (Seneca Falls, NY) 1860 1st railroad reaches Kansas 1862 Forrest’s 1st raid 1875 Emma Abbott, a floating hospital for sick kids, makes trial trip, NYC 1877 1st Wimbledon tennis championships held 1913 Billboard publishes earliest known “Last Week’s 10 Best Sellers among Popular Songs” Malinda’s Wedding Day is #1 1914 Boston Braves begin drive from last to 1st place in the NL 1927 Ty Cobb gets his 4,000th hit 1941 1st US Army flying school for black cadets dedicted (Tuskegee Ala) 1941 British PM Winston Churchill launched his “V for Victory” campaign 1941 President Roosevelt appointed FEP Committee 1955 Balclutha ties up at Pier 43 & becomes a floating museum 1957 1st rocket with nuclear warhead fired, Yucca Flat, Nevada 1957 Don Bowden becomes 1st American to break 4 minute mile (3m58s7) 1961 1st in-flight movie shown (TWA) 1965 Shooting begins on Star Trek 2nd pilot “Where No Man Has Gone Before” 1966 Gov James Rhodes declares state of emergency in Cleveland (race riot) 1969 Apollo 11 goes into Moon orbit 1979 2 supertankers collide off Tobago-260,000 TONS of oil spill 1980 Moscow Summer Olympics begin, US & others boycott 1982 David S Dodge becomes the 1st American hostage in Lebanon 1984 1st female to captain a 747 across the Atlantic (Lynn Rippelmeyer) 1985 Christa McAuliffe chosen 1st schoolteacher to fly the space shuttle 1990 Cincinnati Red Pete Rose is sentence to 5 months for tax evasion 1990 Richard Nixon library opens in Yorba Linda, Calif 1991 Miss Black America contestant accuses Mike Tyson of rape 2005 President George W. Bush announced his choice of federal appeals court judge John Roberts to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. 2010 The Agriculture Department pressured Shirley Sherrod, an administrator in Georgia, to resign after a conservative website posted edited video it claimed showed her making racist remarks. (After reviewing the entire video, the White House ended up apologizing to Sherrod.)]]]]> ]]>